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Following Grado's exclusive revelation to Sportskeeda that he'd be embarking on a new adventure in the form of his Wrestling Daft podcast, the first episode has just dropped in explosive fashion!
The former ICW World Heavyweight Champion, Grado, and renowned actor Robert Florence, the star of comedy sketch show Burnistoun, were joined for their first outing by current AEW World Champion Chris Jericho.
In a no-holds-barred rant, Le Champion revealed how AEW is pushing WWE to be better, before revealing that NXT is "still the minor leagues" and stating that their roster is "basically full of unknown performers."
I knew this was going to happen. I told the guys, "Look, you don't know Vince McMahon like I know Vince McMahon." He's going to retaliate. That's what he does. He loves the competition aspect of it. He loves this. He's probably having more fun with wrestling now than he has over the last 10 years because this is giving him something to fight for and to fight at.
Jericho then provided an analogy to further his point:
If I'm in a race and running around the track with no one behind me, what difference does it make? I might slow down a bit, I might stop and take a p*** on the side, I might start walking. If I have someone right behind me, I'll be going as fast as I can. To win. I think that's what happened. We ignited a spark by Vince and the entire WWE to make them realise, "You're not the only show in town, you're not the richest company in town any more and, in a lot of ways, you're not the cool company any more."
The current AEW World Heavyweight Champion then revealed how he sees AEW as competing with WWE, not NXT.
When I say, "We are not at war with WWE," I guess we are in competition with them. We are not at war with NXT because - this is going to make people mad, but this is not being an a** - NXT is still a minor league, no matter how you slice it. Those guys are still basically unknown performers. It's not a competition with us.
Jericho then revealed why he believes AEW is outperforming NXT, putting it down to experience and having more mainstream stars.
I knew we would win because we have more star power than NXT does. I mean, when you look at the end of our week of TV, who was out there at the end?
Chris Jericho, we know him. Dustin Rhodes, we know him. Jon Moxley, we know him. He has a different name but we know that is. Cody, we saw him before if you're a long-time wrestling fan. Pac is out there, we remember him when he was Neville. Oh, there's Jack Swagger, he's got a different name now, Jake Hager, but we know who he is. Jim Ross is commentating. I know that guy. Tony Schiavone is commentating, I know that guy. Justin Roberts is the announcer, it's a subtle thing, but we know that guy.
Le Champion then stated that NXT comprises of "guys you've never heard of".
There's all people that have done WrestleManias out there in the very first night of our TV. And on NXT you have guys you've never heard of. That is not cutting them down, they are all great performers but, to a mainstream fan, they don't know who Kyle O'Reilly is, or Johnny Gargano, or Ciampa, or Velveteen Dream, they just don't.
To me, we're not in competition with NXT, our competition is RAW, it's SmackDown, it's Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, or Brock Lesnar, and all those guys. So that's the way I look at it.
I think it's going to take a stroke of genius from Vince to put NXT on against us. It took the focus off the main show and AEW, and put it on the minor league and AEW.
Jericho ended by saying all AEW can do is be the best it can be, and that they're not just measuring their success in viewership against NXT.
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